{"id":115237,"date":"2019-01-31T15:50:32","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T19:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=115237"},"modified":"2019-01-31T15:50:51","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T19:50:51","slug":"illegal-alien-a-legal-term-that-describes-the-criminal-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=115237","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;ILLEGAL ALIEN&#8221;: A Legal Term that Describes the Criminal Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>&#8220;Undocumented Immigrant&#8221; Is a Made-Up Term That Ignores the Law<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-480400112.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-115238\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-480400112.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"945\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-480400112.jpg 945w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-480400112-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/GettyImages-480400112-768x423.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 945px) 100vw, 945px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"commentary__intro-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"author-card\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrapper\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"author-card__author-info-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"author-card__card-info\">\n<p class=\"author-card__title\">COMMENTARY BY Hans A. von Spakovsky<br \/>\nElection Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal Fellow<\/p>\n<p>Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues \u2013 including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration.<\/p>\n<p>Using terms like \u201cundocumented immigrant\u201d is intended to blur and extinguish the line between legal and illegal immigration.Delpixart\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section class=\"image-with-caption\">\n<figure class=\"image-with-caption__image-wrapper\"><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"key-takeaways \">\n<div class=\"key-takeaways__wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"key-takeaways__heading\">KEY TAKEAWAYS<\/h3>\n<div class=\"key-takeaways__takeaway\">\n<p class=\"key-takeaways__copy-one\">\u201cUndocumented immigrant\u201d is a politically correct, made-up term used to obscure the fact that such aliens have violated U.S. immigration law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"key-takeaways__takeaway\">\n<p class=\"key-takeaways__copy-two\">The Supreme Court, which has decided numerous cases involving federal immigration law, also uses the correct, precise legal term of \u201cillegal alien.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"key-takeaways__takeaway\">\n<p class=\"key-takeaways__copy-three\">The Justice Department has a constitutional duty to enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress against illegal aliens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__social-container commentary__social-container explainer-banner__social-container\">\u00a0\u00a0<a class=\"heritage-icon-copy_link article__social-icon\" title=\"Copy a link to this article\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/immigration\/commentary\/undocumented-immigrant-made-term-ignores-the-law#\" aria-label=\"Copy a link to this article\"><i class=\"copy-icon__confirmation\"><span class=\"copy-icon__copied\">Copied<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__body-copy\">\n<div>\n<p>The news media is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2018\/jul\/24\/justice-department-prefers-illegal-alien-not-undoc\/\" data-external=\"yes\">reporting<\/a>\u00a0that an internal email at the Justice Department has reminded its lawyers that the legally correct term they should be using in their briefs is \u201cillegal alien,\u201d not the euphemism \u201cundocumented immigrant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department leadership is correct. Illegal alien is the correct legal term that should be used.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUndocumented immigrant\u201d is a politically correct, made-up term adopted by pro-illegal alien advocacy groups and liberal media outlets to obscure the fact that such aliens have violated U.S. immigration law and are in the country illegally.<\/p>\n<p>Get exclusive insider information from Heritage experts delivered straight to your inbox each week.\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/immigration\/commentary\/undocumented-immigrant-made-term-ignores-the-law#MEC-Embedded-Ask\">Subscribe to The Agenda &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Precision in the law is a vital principle, since the exact words used in statutes, regulations, contracts, guidance documents, and policy statements can significantly affect how they are applied and interpreted.<\/p>\n<p>If we are going to discuss and debate the issue of immigration and what our public policy should be, we should at least use accurate, precise terms, and talk about, for example, legal aliens vs. illegal aliens.<\/p>\n<p>Government lawyers in particular have an obligation to use the correct language of the federal statutes they are sworn to uphold and enforce.<\/p>\n<p>Federal immigration law uses the term \u201cillegal alien.\u201d For example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/8\/1365\" data-external=\"yes\">8 U.S.C. \u00a71365<\/a>\u00a0is a provision that deals with a reimbursement program the federal government has for states that are incarcerating illegal aliens. Its very title refers to \u201cillegal aliens,\u201d and that term is used in the statute itself, which defines an illegal alien as anyone \u201cwho is in the United States unlawfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlien\u201d\u2014rather than \u201cimmigrant\u201d\u2014is the correct legal term, since \u201calien\u201d is defined in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/8\/1101\" data-external=\"yes\">8 U.S.C. \u00a71101 (a)(3)<\/a>\u00a0as \u201cany person not a citizen or national of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court, which has decided numerous cases involving federal immigration law, also uses the correct, precise legal term of \u201cillegal alien.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen pointed this out in his decision granting an injunction against the implementation of President Barack Obama\u2019s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, the so-called DAPA program.<\/p>\n<p>As Hanen said in a footnote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Court also understands that there is a certain segment of the population that finds the phrase \u2018illegal alien\u2019 offensive. The court uses this term because it is the term used by the Supreme Court in its latest pronouncement pertaining to this area of the law. See Arizona v. U.S., 132 S. Ct. 2492 (2012).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hanen was, of course, correct in his assessment. The Supreme Court used the term \u201cillegal alien\u201d not only in that case, but in numerous prior decisions, some of which are cited in Arizona v. U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Under federal law, any individual in this country who is not a citizen is an alien. And any alien who is here without permission is here illegally. End of story.<\/p>\n<p>But of course, the propaganda war in the public arena cares little for facts and actual statutory language.<\/p>\n<p>Pro-illegal alien groups, politicians who push \u201csanctuary\u201d policies and open borders, and protesters who want to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, want to persuade the American public that those here illegally are no different than those who followed the rules to come here lawfully.<\/p>\n<p>Using terms like \u201cundocumented immigrant\u201d is intended to blur and extinguish the line between legal and illegal immigration.<\/p>\n<p>Advocates for illegal aliens want to stifle debate by making the false claim that if you are against \u201cundocumented immigrants\u201d\u2014aka illegal aliens\u2014you must be a racist, a nativist, or someone who hates all immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>That is false and shameful demagoguery of the worst kind. The United States is the most generous country in the world when it comes to legal immigration. We take in more than 1 million legal immigrants a year\u2014more than any other country in the world.<\/p>\n<p>But support for legal immigration doesn\u2019t mean we must also support illegal immigration. In fact, we have an obligation to prevent illegal aliens from breaking our laws and entering our country surreptitiously.<\/p>\n<p>The term \u201cillegal alien\u201d is neither dehumanizing, nor demeaning. It is the precise legal term for those whose status in this country is unlawful.<\/p>\n<p>President Ronald Reagan once said that \u201ca nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department has a constitutional duty to enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress against illegal aliens. Basic standards of professionalism and good advocacy require that its lawyers use the legally correct and accurate language of the statutes they enforce as applied by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"article-body__reference\">This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/immigration\/commentary\/undocumented-immigrant-made-term-ignores-the-law\">https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/immigration\/commentary\/undocumented-immigrant-made-term-ignores-the-law<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Undocumented Immigrant&#8221; Is a Made-Up Term That Ignores the Law<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}